Mason City, Iowa - Mae A. Haiden, 90, of Mason City, died peacefully on Tuesday (October 8, 2013), at the Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City. At her side were her daughters Ann & Mary and granddaughter Elizabeth Mae.A mass of Christian Burial was held at 10:30am on a beautiful crisp sunny fall Saturday (October 12, 2013) at Epiphany Parish - St Joseph Catholic Church, 302 5th St S.E. Mason City, with the Rev. Rodney Allers as Celebrant. Burial was followed on Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City. Visitation was held at Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 3rd N.E. Mason City from 5pm until 7pm on Friday (October 11, 2013). The Catholic Daughters of the Americas lead the Rosary beginning at 6:30 and was followed by a Scriptural Wake and Sharing service. Mae Adele Studer was born on May 11, 1923 to Alphonse and Isabel (Haverly) Studer on a farm west of Wesley, Iowa; she was one of six sisters and one brother. She attended St. Joseph Parochial school through the eighth grade and graduated from Wesley High School in 1942, while in high school she played on the girls basketball team. In 1942 she and her sister, Julie, and lifelong friend, Florence Goepel, went to Wichita, Kansas to work for Beech craft Aircraft, building two engine training planes for the Army. They did their part to support the war effort. In 1946 she left for California to work for Sears mail order. She helped put a dent in the glass ceiling when she applied for and received the job of control buyer for ladies ready to wear sporting wear. At that time, jobs in that field were entirely male dominated. She retired in 1968 due to health reasons. She married Richard (Dick) Haiden on May 19, 1962 at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Santa Fe Springs, California. They lived in Downey, California until Dick retired in 1988. Following Dick's retirement they moved to Mason City where they built a house on Briarstone Lake, living there until their health failed and they moved to Kentucky Ridge Assisted Living in September of 2005. Mae loved her potted plants and doing pottery. She excelled in ceramics and oil painting, having always been very artistic, she was also an avid sewer and crocheter and loved canarys. Her greatest love however was her family. Those grateful in sharing in Mae's life are her daughters, Mary (Cameron) Skill, Downey, Calif., and Ann Haiden, Los Gatos, Calif.; granddaughters, Michelle and Elizabeth Skill; sisters in law, Isabel Barker, Josephine (Dick) Sperl, Joan (Ross) Prout, and Kitty Studer; brother in law, Jerald Haiden; family friend, Herbert "Tud" Goepel, Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Richard; and her siblings, Gerald Studer, Phyllis Kelch, Elaine Downs, Julie Jarvis, Rita Young, and Rose Gerdes; as well as her lifelong friend, Florence Goepel. The circle is once again complete, with Mae and her siblings reunited in heaven forever.

********** Published: Oct. 24, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 28